April 24, 2003
09:00 AM (EDT)

News Release Number: STScI-2003-13

Hubble Captures a Perfect Storm of Turbulent Gases

April 24, 2003: Resembling the fury of a raging sea, this image actually shows a bubbly
ocean of glowing hydrogen gas and small amounts of other elements such
as oxygen and sulfur. The photograph, taken by NASA's Hubble Space
Telescope, captures a small region within M17, a hotbed of star
formation. M17, also known as the Omega or Swan Nebula, is located about
5,500 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. The image is
being released to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of Hubble's
launch on April 24, 1990.

Q & A: Understanding the Discovery

1.
What does the photo show?

The wave-like patterns of gas have been sculpted and illuminated by a
torrent of ultraviolet radiation from young, massive stars, which lie
outside the picture to the upper left. The glow of these patterns
accentuates the three-dimensional structure of the gases. The
ultraviolet radiation is carving and heating the surfaces of cold
hydrogen gas clouds.

The warmed surfaces glow orange and red in this photograph. The intense
heat and pressure cause some material to stream away from those
surfaces, creating the glowing veil of even hotter greenish gas that
masks background structures. The pressure on the tips of the waves may
trigger new star formation within them.